Award Date

5-2012

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT)

Department

Physical Therapy

Advisor 1

Merrill Landers

First Committee Member

Jill Slaboda

Second Committee Member

Merrill Landers

Number of Pages

19

Abstract

Background and Purpose: Research has found that participation in physical therapy (PT) services in the acute care setting increases functional outcomes and decreases patient length of stay. Certain physical therapist characteristics could be a potential source of influence on patient non-participation in physical therapy in the acute care setting. The purpose of this study was to determine whether specific characteristics of therapists and patients are predictive of physical therapy non-treatment.

Subjects: Subjects included 16 physical therapists or physical therapist assistants and 1225 patients at a community acute care hospital.

Methods: Characteristics of each therapist and their corresponding patient data were collected from the 16 therapists at a community acute care hospital. Logistic regression was used to identify any therapist or patient factors predictive of patient non-participation in physical therapy services during their second scheduled visit.

Results: Odds ratios were found to be significant for the following variables: Wednesday, the “Other diagnosis” grouping, and 2 out of the 14 therapists. Odds ratios for these variables were 0.455, 2.146, 8.804, and 10.359 respectively.

Discussion and conclusion: No surveyed therapist characteristics were predictive of non-participation of physical therapy treatment in the acute care setting. Though measured attributes were not predictive, being a specific therapist, patients fitting into the “other” diagnosis category and being treated on Wednesday were predictive of non-treatment. Future research should focus on evaluating further therapist characteristics not included in this study, such as personality traits.

Keywords

Health behavior -- Decision making; Medical personnel and patient; Physical therapist and patient; Physical therapy

Disciplines

Physical Therapy | Rehabilitation and Therapy

File Format

pdf

File Size

94 Kb

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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